Characterization of a cryptic plasmid isolated from Lactobacillus casei CP002616 and construction of shuttle vectors based on its replicon

The second messenger c-di-AMP mediates bacterial exopolysaccharide biosynthesis: a review

Cyclic dimeric adenosine 3'-5'-monophosphate (c-di-AMP) is a recently discovered nucleotide messenger in bacteria. It plays an important role in signaling, transcription, and cell physiology, such as in bacterial growth, potassium transport, fatty acid synthesis, the metabolic balance of cell wall components, and biofilm formation. Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) have distinct physico-chemical properties and diverse bioactivities including antibacterial, hypolipidemic, and antioxidative activities, and they are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Although c-di-AMP has been demonstrated to regulate the biosynthesis of bacterial EPSs, only a single c-di-AMP receptor, CabpA, has been identified in EPS synthesis. With the aim of describing current understanding of the regulation of microbial EPSs, this review summarizes c-di-AMP biosynthesis and degradation as well as the mechanism through which c-di-AMP regulates bacterial EPSs.

Comparative Genomics of Streptococcus thermophilus Support Important Traits Concerning the Evolution, Biology and Technological Properties of the Species

Streptococcus thermophilus is a major starter for the dairy industry with great economic importance. In this study we analyzed 23 fully sequenced genomes of S. thermophilus to highlight novel aspects of the evolution, biology and technological properties of this species. Pan/core genome analysis revealed that the species has an important number of conserved genes and that the pan genome is probably going to be closed soon. According to whole genome phylogeny and average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis, most S. thermophilus strains were grouped in two major clusters (i.e., clusters A and B). More specifically, cluster A includes strains with chromosomes above 1.83 Mbp, while cluster B includes chromosomes below this threshold. This observation suggests that strains belonging to the two clusters may be differentiated by gene gain or gene loss events. Furthermore, certain strains of cluster A could be further subdivided in subgroups, i.e., subgroup I (ASCC 1275, DGCC 7710, KLDS SM, MN-BM-A02, and ND07), II (MN-BM-A01 and MN-ZLW-002), III (LMD-9 and SMQ-301), and IV (APC151 and ND03). In cluster B certain strains formed one distinct subgroup, i.e., subgroup I (CNRZ1066, CS8, EPS, and S9). Clusters and subgroups observed for S. thermophilus indicate the existence of lineages within the species, an observation which was further supported to a variable degree by the distribution and/or the architecture of several genomic traits. These would include exopolysaccharide (EPS) gene clusters, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs)-CRISPR associated (Cas) systems, as well as restriction-modification (R-M) systems and genomic islands (GIs). Of note, the histidine biosynthetic cluster was found present in all cluster A strains (plus strain NCTC12958^T) but was absent from all strains in cluster B. Other loci related to lactose/galactose catabolism and urea metabolism, aminopeptidases, the majority of amino acid and peptide transporters, as well as amino acid biosynthetic pathways were found to be conserved in all strains suggesting their central role for the species. Our study highlights the necessity of sequencing and analyzing more S. thermophilus complete genomes to further elucidate important aspects of strain diversity within this starter culture that may be related to its application in the dairy industry.

Genomic and phenotypic analyses of exopolysaccharide biosynthesis in Streptococcus thermophilus S-3

Streptococcus thermophilus, one of the most important industrial lactic acid bacteria, is widely used as a starter culture in the dairy industry. Streptococcus thermophilus S-3 isolated from Chinese traditional dairy products has shown great potential for the production of larger amounts of exopolysaccharides (EPS), which significantly affect the organoleptic properties of fermented milk products. To understand the relationship between the genotype and phenotype of S. thermophilus S-3 in terms of EPS biosynthesis, its genome of strain S-3 was sequenced and the genes related to carbohydrate utilization, nucleotide sugars synthesis, and EPS biosynthesis were investigated. The genomic analysis revealed that S. thermophilus S-3 can use sucrose, mannose, glucose, galactose, and lactose. Phenotypic analysis showed that S-3 prefers fermenting lactose to fermenting glucose or galactose. The genetic analysis of nucleotide sugars and EPS biosynthesis revealed that S-3 can synthesize uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose, deoxythymidine diphosphate-glucose, deoxythymidine diphosphate-rhamnose, UDP-galactose, UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. A high yield of EPS from S-3 cultivated with lactose rather than glucose as the carbon source was correlated with high transcriptional levels of the genes associated with metabolism of these nucleotide sugars and EPS biosynthesis. Our results provide a better understanding of EPS biosynthesis in S. thermophilus and can facilitate enhanced EPS production by lactic acid bacteria fermentation via genetic and metabolic engineering approaches.

Comparison of gal-lac operons in wild-type galactose-positive and -negative Streptococcus thermophilus by genomics and transcription analysis

Streptococcus thermophilus is one of the most important homo-fermentative thermophilic bacteria, which is widely used as a starter culture in dairy industry. Both wild-type galactose-negative (Gal^-) S. thermophilus AR333 and galactose-positive (Gal⁺) S. thermophilus S-3 in this study were isolated from Chinese traditional dairy products. Here, to access the mechanism of the difference of galactose utilization between strains AR333 and S-3, the expression of gal-lac operons was examined using real-time qPCR in the presence of different sugars, and the gene organization of gal-lac operons was characterized using comparative genomics analysis. As compared with medium containing glucose, the expression of gal-lac operons in AR333 and S-3 was significantly activated (> 5-fold) in the presence of galactose or lactose in the medium. More importantly, the expression of gal operon in S-3 was higher than that of AR333, suggesting that the strength of gal promoter in AR333 and S-3 may be different. The genomes of AR333 and S-3 were the first time sequenced to provide insight into the difference of gal-lac operons in these two strains. Comparative genomics analysis showed that gene order and individual gene size of gal-lac operons are conserved in AR333 and S-3. The DNA sequence of gal operon responsible for galactose utilization between AR333 and S-3 is almost identical except that galK promoter of S-3 possesses single base pair mutation (G to A substitution) at -9 box galK region. Moreover, the expression of red fluorescent protein can be activated by galK promoter of S-3, but cannot by galK promoter of AR333 in galactose medium, suggesting that gal operon is silent in AR333 and active in S-3 under galactose-containing medium. Overall, our results indicated that single point mutation at -9 box in the galK promoter can significantly affect the expression of gal operon and is largely responsible for the Gal⁺ phenotype of S. thermophilus.